The Smart City Expo World Congress 2017 (SCEWC) in Barcelona, Spain got underway on 14 November 2017 and looked to showcase the latest developments the progression towards smart cities. Under the theme of “Leading New ICT, Creating a Smart City Nervous System,” Huawei highlighted how a Smart City can be like a living organism that works seamlessly to continuously learn and enhance the city’s services. Together with its global partners, Huawei demonstrated joint ICT solutions which connect the digital and physical worlds across city administration, public services, and industrial economies.
Huawei highlighted four technologies which are leading this drive, these technologies include cloud computing, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), these solutions drive unified co-ordination, cross-sector collaboration, and intelligent analysis for effective management of city services.
Coinciding with the SCEWC, Huawei hosted the Global Smart City Summit, where representatives from the European Union, international standards organisations, world-renowned consultancies, relevant research institutions and leading Smart Cities shared their insights and experiences in driving Smart City development with over 400 city administrators from around the world.
Smart Cities powered by a “Nervous System” are advancing rapid urbanisation which is increasing pressure on city infrastructure and services, forcing many cities to rethink how they operate. City managers are responding to these pressures through the development of Smart Cities. These future cities will need to be dynamic and constantly evolve to ensure high-quality public services and efficient systems while achieving sustainable development.
Huawei believes that like a living organism, a Smart City has a nervous system that comprises a “brain” [the control center] and “peripheral nerves” [the network and sensors], gathering real-time information about the status of the city, its environment and infrastructure.
Joe So CTO, Industry Solutions, Marketing & Solution Sales Dept., Enterprise Business Group, Huawei speaking at SCEW highlighted the three main driving forces behind the smart cities drive. The first force was safety, So believes that this is the primary driving force as terrorist attacks and other criminal activities have increased the focus on keeping the city safe, which is something a smart city can provide. The digital transformation of businesses was pointed out as the second driving force, as businesses move to a digital world they need to operate in a city which supports all the relevant platforms and technologies which those businesses will require. The final force was the drive to enhance the lives of all citizens and improve government processes.
Yan Lida, President of Huawei Enterprise BG, speaking on this nervous system said, “In these Smart Cities all things are sensing, connected and intelligent, informing decisions and driving actions that improve city services and the lives of citizens. In the Smart City 3.0 era, massive amounts of data are being generated from a vast number of connections between people and things and between things. This data collected in the physical world can now support decision-making in the digital world to drive intelligent actions in the physical world, thus creating a seamless link between the physical and digital worlds. With unique DNA and vision, Huawei provides ICT solutions across the entire spectrum of cloud-pipe-device, and has the capability to work with city administrators to design customised end-to-end Smarty City solutions that address their needs. We are committed to creating a strong nervous system that powers Smart Cities. Our open platform is designed to integrate the physical and digital worlds, while helping partners to drive innovation. To support the sustainable development of Smart Cities, we also collaborate with a thriving ecosystem of global partners. These unique competitive advantages make Huawei the best digital partner for Smart City development.”
Edited by Dean Workman
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